By Mehreen Zahra-Malik and Haji Mujtaba

ISLAMABAD/MIRANSHAH (Reuters) - U.S. drones fired missiles at Taliban hideouts in Pakistan killing at least 10 militants in response to a deadly attack on Karachi airport, officials said on Thursday, in the first such raids by unmanned CIA aircraft in six months.

Two top government officials said Islamabad had given the Americans "express approval" for the strikes - the first time Pakistan has admitted to such cooperation.

Underlining Pakistan's alarm over the brazen Taliban attack on the airport, just weeks after peace talks with the Islamist militants stalled, the officials told Reuters a "joint Pakistan-U.S. operation" had been ordered to hit the insurgents.

Another official said Pakistan had asked the United States for help after the attack on the country's busiest airport on Sunday, and would be intensifying air strikes on militant hideouts in coming days.

Pakistan publicly opposes U.S. drone strikes, saying they kill too many civilians and violate its sovereignty, although in private officials have admitted the government supports them.

"The attacks were launched with the express approval of the Pakistan government and army," said a top government official, requesting not to be named as he was not authorised to discuss the issue with the media.

"It is now policy that the Americans will not use drones without permission from the security establishment here. There will be complete coordination and Pakistan will be in the loop.

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Map of Pakistan locating deadly US drone strikes in North Waziristan Wednesday and Thursday (AFP Pho …

"We understand that drones will be an important part of our fight against the Taliban now," the official added.

The strikes were the first in the nuclear-armed South Asian nation since an attack in December last year in which three suspected militants were killed. The CIA conducts covert drone operations against terrorism suspects.

Speculation has been rising that Pakistan is preparing for a full-scale military operation in North Waziristan, a scenario Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has resisted for months in favour of a negotiated end to the insurgency.

But talks with the Taliban have collapsed many times since Sharif announced his plan in February and set up a committee of negotiators, mainly over Taliban demands that the government withdraw all troops from tribal areas and impose Sharia law.

AFGHANISTAN CONNECTION

Pakistan military sources said six militants including four Uzbeks were killed in the first strike on Wednesday around five km (three miles) north of Miranshah, the capital of the North Waziristan tribal region where Taliban insurgents are holed up.

The second attack killed four militants in the same area around 2 a.m. on Thursday.

Another source, a senior member of the Afghan Taliban, put the death toll at 16, with 10 killed in the second strike.

A senior member of the Afghan Taliban said all the 10 militants killed in the second strike were affiliated with the feared Haqqani network that regularly launches attacks on Western forces in Afghanistan and which until last month held U.S. soldier Bowe Bergdahl.

"The drones targeted two mini vans which were carrying Taliban fighters associated with the Haqqani network to Afghanistan for an attack," the Taliban commander said.

The twin drone strikes came after at least 38 people, including 10 insurgents, were killed when militants raided Karachi airport on Sunday night. The Pakistani Taliban are allied with the Afghan militants of the same name and share a similar jihadist ideology.

But they operate as a separate entity, focused entirely on toppling the Pakistani state and establishing strict Islamic rule, whereas the Afghan Taliban are united by their campaign against invading foreign forces.

Sunday's assault destroyed prospects for peace talks between the Taliban and Sharif's government, after months of failed attempts to engage the al Qaeda-linked militants in dialogue on how to end years of violence.

The Pakistan government officially condemned the latest strikes and said such attacks "have a negative impact on the government’s efforts to bring peace and stability in Pakistan and the region". But top officials privately admit the Pakistani government is weighing all options after the Karachi attack.

(Additional reporting by Asim Tanveer in Multan and Jibran Ahmed in Peshawar; Editing by Maria Golovnina and Jeremy Laurence)

A joint effort staged with Pakistan against the Taliban marks a first in the history of the conflict. At least 10 militants dead

BAGHDAD (AP) — The al-Qaida-inspired group that led this week's charge in capturing two key Sunni-dominated cities in Iraq vowed Thursday to march on to Baghdad, raising fears about the Shiite-led government's ability to slow the assault following lightning gains.

Signs emerged that the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant is backed in its campaign by former military officers and other members of ousted dictator Saddam Hussein's regime — including a force led by Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, the late leader's former deputy who escaped the 2003 U.S.-led invasion and eluded U.S. and Iraqi forces ever since.

As world leaders expressed alarm over the destabilization of large parts of the country by fighters from the militant group known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, the U.N. Security Council met on the crisis, but there is little prospect of any action by the body.

President Barack Obama said Iraq will need more help from the United States, but he did not specify what it would be willing to provide. Senior U.S. officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter by name said Washington is considering whether to conduct drone missions in Iraq.

In the north, Kurdish security forces took over an air base and other posts abandoned by the Iraqi military in ethnically mixed Kirkuk, a senior official with the Kurdish forces said. He denied they had taken over the oil-rich city.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki asked parliament this week to declare a state of emergency that would give him increased powers to run the country, but the lawmakers Thursday failed to assemble a quorum to do so.

The Islamic State aims to create an Islamic emirate spanning both sides of the Iraq-Syria border. It has been able to push deep into parts of the Iraqi Sunni heartland once controlled by U.S. forces because police and military forces melted away after relatively brief clashes.

Two senior intelligence officials told The Associated Press that an armed group led by al-Douri, the Naqshabandi Army, and other Saddam-era military figures joined the Islamic State in the fight. In Saddam's hometown of Tikrit that was overrun by militants Wednesday, witnesses said fighters raised posters of Saddam and al-Douri. The two officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the press.

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Iraqi men chant slogans against the al-Qaida breakaway group Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (I …

The involvement of Saddam-era figures raises the potential to escalate the militants' campaign to establish an al-Qaida-like enclave into a wider Sunni uprising. That could only further the momentum toward turning Iraq's sectarian and ethnic divisions in to a geographical fragmentation.

The Islamic State issued a triumphalist statement declaring that it would start implementing its strict version of Shariah law in Mosul and other regions it had overrun. It said women should stay in their homes for modesty reasons, warned it would cut off the hands of thieves and told residents to attend daily prayers. It told Sunnis in the military and police to abandon their posts and "repent" or else "face only death."

"People, you have tried secular regimes ... This is now the era of the Islamic State," it proclaimed.

Baghdad does not appear to be in imminent danger of a similar assault, although Sunni insurgents have stepped up car bombings and suicide attacks in the capital recently.

With its large Shiite population, the capital would be a far harder target for the militants. So far, Islamic State fighters have stuck to the Sunni heartland and former Sunni insurgent strongholds where people are already alienated by al-Maliki's Shiite-led government over allegations of discrimination and mistreatment. The militants also would likely meet far stronger resistance, not only from government forces but by Shiite militias if they tried to advance on Baghdad.

Iraqi officials and analysts said the ISIL assault is being helped by sympathetic Sunnis, including former army officers and other remnants of Saddam's regime, which fell after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.

Skirmishes continued in several areas overnight and into Thursday. Two communities near Tikirt — the key oil refining center of Beiji and the city of Samarra, home to a prominent Shiite shrine — remained in government hands, according to Iraqi intelligence officials.

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Areas under the control of the al-Qaida group, Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. (AP)

They said ISIL fighters managed to take control of two big weapons depots holding some 400,000 items, including AK-47 rifles, rockets and rocket-propelled grenades, artillery shells and mortars. A quarter of the stockpiles were quickly sent to Syria in order to help the group's comrades there, they said.

Officers from the army that was disbanded after the invasion are helping coordinate the fight with the Islamic State, they said. Other armed groups involved in the attacks include the Army of the Men of the Naqshabandi Order, which is led by the top fugitive from Saddam's regime, Izzat al-Douri, and another known as the Iraqi Resistance Group, they said.

The officials provided the information on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to divulge it publicly.

After Mosul fell Tuesday, al-Maliki asked parliament to give him the "necessary powers" to run the country under a state of emergency — something legal experts said would include powers to impose curfews, restrict public movements and censor the media.

After parliament failed to reach a quorum, Hakim al-Zamili, a lawmaker affiliated with firebrand Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, played down the apparent lack of support for the vote, saying al-Maliki already has enough power to take the necessary action.

"The problem is that soldiers are not resisting the armed groups," he said. "No soldier is ready to fire a shot against the gunmen."

The stunning advances by the Sunni militants are a heavy defeat for al-Maliki. His Shiite-dominated political bloc came first in April 30 parliamentary elections — the first since the U.S. military withdrawal in 2011 — but failed to gain a majority, forcing him to try to build a governing coalition.

Raw: Iraqi Army Troops Flee Base in TikritPlay Video

Al-Zamili, a member in the parliament's defense and security committee, said armed groups such as Naqshabandi army, and former Baathists and army officers are fighting along with the ISIL.

Gunmen in Mosul continued to hold hostages at the Turkish consulate there.

Turkish officials are talking to militants in Mosul about freeing 80 people being held there, according to an official in the Turkish prime minister's office. The captives include 49 people who were seized in the Turkish consulate Wednesday, including the general consul and 31 truck drivers, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment to reporters.

In addition to Mosul and Tikrit, the Islamic State and its allies among local tribesmen also hold Fallujah and other pockets of the Sunni-dominated Anbar province to the west of Baghdad.

Online video showed some Tikrit residents celebrating the takeover. As Islamic State fighters drove through largely empty streets in a captured military Humvee and a pickup truck mounted with an anti-aircraft gun, what appeared to be a few dozen people shouted "God is great," and celebratory gunfire could be heard. The video appeared authentic and was consistent with AP reporting.

The Islamic State's spokesman vowed to take the fight into Baghdad. In a sign of the group's confidence, he even boasted that its fighters will take the southern Shiite cities of Karbala and Najaf, which hold two of the holiest shrines for Shiite Muslims.

"We will march toward Baghdad because we have an account to settle there," he said in an audio recording posted on militant websites commonly used by the group. The statement could not be independently verified.

Al-Maliki: Determined to Re-take MosulPlay Video

Meanwhile, Kurdish fighters from the ethnic group's autonomous enclave in the north showed signs of taking a greater role in fighting back against the Islamic State. Their role is a potential point of friction because both Sunni and Shiite Arabs are wary over Kurdish claims on territory outside their enclave.

Kurdish security forces known as peshmerga took over an air base and other posts abandoned by the Iraqi military in the ethnically mixed flashpoint city of Kirkuk, Brig. Halogard Hikmat, a senior peshmerga official told the Associated Press. But he denied reports the whole city was under peshmerga control.

"We decided to move ... because we do not want these places with the weapons inside them to fall into the hands of the insurgents," said Hikmat. Iraqi government officials could not be reached to confirm the account.

A force of 20 pickup trucks carrying Islamic State militants attacked peshmerga positions near the town of Sinjar, on a highway between Mosul and the Syrian border. The two sides battled for four hours late Wednesday night in a firefight that killed nine militants and wounded four peshmerga, Hikmat said.

Militants also attacked an Iraqi security checkpoint in Tarmiyah, 50 kilometers (31 miles) north of Baghdad, killing five troops and wounding nine, said officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

Hundreds of young men crowded in front of the main army recruiting center in Baghdad on Thursday after authorities urged Iraqis to help battle the insurgents.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif offered his country's support to Iraq in its "fight against terrorism" during a phone call with his Iraqi counterpart, Iranian state TV reported.

Iraqis pouring out of MosulPlay Video

Obama did not specify what type of assistance the U.S. was willing to provide but said he had not ruled out any options.

"We do have a stake in making sure that these jihadists are not getting a permanent foothold in either Iraq or Syria, for that matter," Obama said during an Oval Office meeting with Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott.

Shiite powerhouse Iran, which has built close ties with Iraq's postwar government, has halted flights to Baghdad because of security concerns and has intensified security measures along its borders.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani blasted the Islamic State as "barbaric" and said that his country's highest security body will hold an immediate meeting to review the developments in neighboring Iraq.

The White House said Wednesday that the United States was "deeply concerned" about the Islamic State's continued aggression.

Human Rights Watch expressed concern about the group's advances, noting its history of violence and other abuses. The rights group also called on Baghdad to deal with the crisis "without the brutal tactics for which civilians elsewhere in the country have long been paying a heavy price," deputy Middle East director Nadim Houry said.

There were no reliable estimates of casualties or the number of insurgents involved, though several hundred gunmen were involved in the Tikrit fight, said Mizhar Fleih, the deputy head of the municipal council of nearby Samarra. An even larger number of militants likely would have been needed to secure Mosul, a much bigger city.

Mosul, the capital of Ninevah province, and the neighboring Sunni-dominated province of Anbar share a long and porous border with Syria, where the Islamic State is also active.

In addition to being Saddam's hometown, Tikrit was a power base of his once-powerful Baath Party. The former dictator was captured by U.S. forces while hiding in a hole in the area and he is buried south of town in a tomb draped with the Saddam-era Iraqi flag.

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Schreck reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Associated Press writers Qassim Abdul-Zahra in Paris, Bassem Mroue in Beirut, Nasser Karimi in Tehran and Desmond Butler in Istanbul contributed to this report.

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Follow Adam Schreck on Twitter at www.twitter.com/adamschreck

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Obama on Iraq: "I don't rule anything out."

With a force of ultraviolent Islamist fighters slicing toward Baghdad, President Barack Obama on Thursday vowed to deny them a “permanent foothold” in Iraq and promised the war-torn country’s beleaguered government that American help was on the way.

“I don’t rule out anything, because we do have a stake in making sure that these jihadists are not getting a permanent foothold in either Iraq or Syria,” Obama told reporters in the Oval Office as he met with Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott.

The White House later underlined that the president had been talking about limited assistance like air strikes. "We are not contemplating ground troops. I want to be clear about that," press secretary Jay Carney told reporters.

Obama's comments came as several news outlets reported that Iraq’s leaders, watching impotently as an al-Qaida-inspired group seized two of the country’s most important cities, were making fresh pleas for help from Washington. Officials in Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s government, which came to office thanks to the U.S.-driven ouster of Saddam Hussein, have been asking for help for more than a year to combat the insurgents, many of them battle-hardened fighters who have proved themselves in the killing fields of the Syrian civil war.

Television images of the Islamists’ shocking advance show that “Iraq’s going to need more help,” Obama said.

“It’s going to need more help from us, and it’s going to need more help from the international community. So my team is working around the clock to identify how we can provide the most effective assistance to them,” the president said.

CLICK IMAGE for slideshow: Al-Qaida-inspired insurgents gaining ground in Iraq. (AP Photo/ Karim Kadim)

Obama won the presidency in 2008 in part on his criticisms of the war in Iraq, and he repeatedly claimed in the 2012 campaign that the Iraq war was over after the withdrawal of American forces in 2011. The country, which experienced frequent terrorist attacks during the American tenure there, has continued to suffer waves of deadly attacks since the departure of troops.

On Capitol Hill on Wednesday, members of the Senate Armed Services Committee emerged from a classified briefing with defense and intelligence officials on Thursday expressing shock about how quickly Iraqi forces crumbled under the insurgency. They also expressed openness to a U.S. military response but stopped short of calling for a boots-on-the-ground approach.

“This was a surprise to everybody,” said West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joseph Manchin. “It’s alarming how quickly things are changing over there minute by minute, hour by hour and day by day.”

U.S. airstrikes, Manchin said, “might be the only way that we can go in and give some support so they can hold off until they can regroup and the Iraqi army can get itself together.”

Michigan Democratic Sen. Carl Levin, the committee chairman, urged fellow lawmakers to use caution before calling for military action, but said he was considering U.S. options for a response.

“We have to be very careful and thoughtful before we do anything,” Levin said. “We should look at all the options carefully and thoughtfully.”

The dramatic events of the past few days have fueled fresh Republican criticisms of Obama’s handling of Iraq. Many of the GOP’s leading voices on foreign policy condemned the president for failing to secure an agreement with Iraq’s leaders that would have permitted American combat troops to remain and shore up local security forces.

“It's not like we haven't seen this problem coming for over a year, and it's not like we haven't seen, over the last five or six months, these terrorists moving in, taking control of western Iraq,” Republican House Speaker John Boehner said earlier on Thursday at his weekly press conference. “Now they've taken control of Mosul. They're 100 miles from Baghdad. And what's the president doing? Taking a nap.

Soldiers in Mosul threw down their guns and stripped off their uniforms, allowing the city to fall to Sunni insurgents …

But “I would urge the president once again to get engaged before it's too late,” Boehner said.

In the Oval Office, Obama said some of his key advisers were consulting with Iraqi officials on some “short-term, immediate things that will need to be done militarily.

“Our national security team is looking at all the options — but this should be also a wake-up call from the Iraqi government that there has to be a political component to this,” he said, echoing past criticisms that al-Maliki’s poor governing style had fractured Iraq’s politics and its people.

Obama warns of U.S. action in Iraq

The president says he won't "rule anything out" as Sunni Islamist militants threaten Baghdad.
Open to using drone strikes

Gleb Garanich/Reuters

Homes destroyed by fighting in eastern Ukraine.

Like many others in the flash point eastern Ukrainian city of Slavyansk, she has come to central Lenin Square to fill her bottle from the stagnant pool at the fountain. She has no other choice.

"It's mostly for washing. If I drink it, I boil it first," she said, declining to give her last name.

"There's no water anymore, no power, no nothing."

For the past week, since fighting between pro-Russian rebels and government troops led to the destruction of the water supply, a trip to the fountain on Lenin Square has become a daily routine for many people in Slavyansk.

That's the price they have to pay for living in a city which has been a stronghold of pro-Russian insurgents since April.

It's a fate that they have to share with millions of others in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, where the water supply has been curtailed or halted entirely.

But in the streets of Slavyansk, a city of 120,000 residents, fighting takes place nearly every day.

In those conditions, survival has become a constant struggle for the city's helplessly trapped civilians -- men, women and children.

Closed Forever

A long line of people suggests that there is something sparse and desirable on offer. It turns out to be bottled water.

Even basic commodities are in short supply in Slavyansk. Almost no businesses remain in operation. "Closed forever," reads a sign in front of one shop.

Only a small supermarket remains open, along with a cafe, which now closes at 6 pm because of the hostilities, rather than 11 pm.

"We're probably braver than most. One day they were shooting just next door, but we kept working," said a waitress at the cafe, which makes do without water and power, with a menu consisting of just two items: Salad and meat cooked over a gas flame.

The city is almost entirely cut off from the outside world. The Internet doesn't work any longer, and only a few operators are able to provide telephone services.

"At least, we can go bathing in the river," said Pasha, a man in his 50s.

Chernobyl

Almost three decades ago, Ukraine topped the global news agenda when Chernobyl saw the worst nuclear power accident in history.

Svetlana, a Slavyansk resident, sees eerie parallels between that disaster and the one befalling her city.

"You've got cables hanging down everywhere. You've got houses in ruin," she said. "And this is a place where people used to live, used to work."

In the city centre, signs of the fighting are everywhere.

The facades of buildings have been blown away, and broken glass covers almost every street.

Throughout the day, it resembles a ghost town. Only occasionally, people venture out on their bicycles.

Shamil Zhumatov/Reuters

"They told us they are providing defence. But against what? I'm not sure I understand," said an elderly woman.

Slavyansk has been her home for 45 years, but now she only wants to leave, just like her children and grandchildren, who have already gone to stay with friends across the border in Russia.

"My husband is sick, and we can't go. Otherwise, we would have been out of here a long time ago," she said.

While Slavyansk is in rebel hands, the Ukrainian army surrounds the city and, some say, is behind frequent explosions believed to be artillery or mortar fire.

Ukrainian soldiers control access to Slavyansk, and carry out strict checks of journalists trying to enter.

A team of AFP journalists had to wait two hours at a checkpoint before being allowed to pass.

"All armed men must leave," said the elderly woman. "That's the only way to restore calm."

This article originally appeared at Agence France Presse. Copyright 2014. Follow Agence France Presse on Twitter.

Ukraine says 'Russian tank incursion' unacceptable

KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine's president rallied support Thursday for his plan to end fighting in the country's east in phone calls with the Russian and German leaders, even as he condemned what Ukrainian officials called an incursion of armored vehicles from Russia.

The Ukrainian interior minister said three tanks crossed into Ukraine along with other armored vehicles from Russia and were attacked by military forces fighting pro-Moscow separatists. He did not directly accuse Moscow of sending the tanks, but said it showed Russia had failed to fulfill promises to tighten border controls.

Russia has denied sending troops or weapons to Ukraine, describing Russian citizens who have joined the armed separatists as volunteers. There was no independent confirmation that the tanks had come from Russia.

In Washington, U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said if the military incursion was confirmed, it would be a "serious and disturbing escalation of the crisis in eastern Ukraine."

The reported incursion followed statements earlier Thursday by Russia's foreign minister that the separatists were ready for a cease-fire but that Kiev had to initiate the process.

Late Thursday, an explosion shook the center of the major eastern city of Donetsk, where the rebels have taken over a regional administration building. An AP reporter nearby heard the explosion and arrived to see a van in flames in front of the building. He saw three injured people being taken away.

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A pro-Russian fighter stands guard at a checkpoint in Slovyansk, eastern Ukraine, Thursday, June 12, …

The breakaway Donetsk People's Republic said on its Twitter feed that the van was used by one of the group's leaders, Denis Pushilin, but said he was not in the vehicle. The same tweet said four people were injured and one was in grave condition.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, who took office less than a week ago, told Russian President Vladimir Putin that it was "unacceptable" that tanks had crossed the border, according to his spokesman, Svyatoslav Tsegolko. A Kremlin statement said Poroshenko told Putin about his plan for resolving the crisis in the east, but did not say whether they discussed the tanks.

The Ukrainian president also spoke Thursday with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, following a call the previous day with U.S. Vice President Joe Biden. Poroshenko has said he is willing to negotiate, but not with what he calls terrorists, and could offer amnesty to those who don't have "blood on their hands."

Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said a "column" with armored vehicles had crossed from Russia through border control points controlled by separatists near the village of Dyakove in eastern Ukraine. Three tanks went to the town of Snizhne, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) from Dyakove, and one remained there while the two others headed toward the town of Horlivka and were engaged by the Ukrainian military, he said. He added that part of the column was destroyed.

Avakov said the incursion had been going on for three days and took place despite Russian statements of interest in a peaceful solution and promises to increase control over the border.

270 Dead In Ukraine's Anti-Terrorist Operation …Play Video

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry spoke Wednesday with Lavrov and urged him to encourage Putin to engage directly with Poroshenko, Psaki said.

"He also encouraged that conversation or engagement to focus on de-escalating the situation on the ground, and he called on Russia to halt the flow of militants and arms from Russia into eastern Ukraine, which is clearly relevant in this case," the spokeswoman said.

Russia's U.N. ambassador said Thursday that he intends to introduce a U.N. Security Council resolution aimed at stopping the violence in Ukraine. Vitaly Churkin told reporters that it will focus on political efforts being carried out by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, "so far not successfully."

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said earlier Thursday the resolution would concentrate on demanding fulfillment of proposals in the OSCE "road map" to resolve the conflict. It calls for non-violence, disarmament, national dialogue and elections.

Lavrov said Russia was not seeking authorization to send in peacekeeping troops. The Ukrainian rebels have suggested that Russia should send peacekeepers, but Moscow says that could only be done with U.N. authorization.

Tensions between Russia and Ukraine sharpened in February after pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych was driven from office by a mass protest movement among people who wanted closer ties with Europe. Ukraine's government and Western countries allege that Russia is fomenting or supporting the uprising in the eastern part of the country where Russian speakers are more numerous. Insurgents have declared two regions independent and are seeking annexation by Russia. Moscow denies it has agents in eastern Ukraine, and its contacts or influence with the rebels are unclear.

"We know that the rebels in the southeast are ready to hold fire, but the first step by all rights should be made by the Kiev authorities," Lavrov said.

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Marko Drobnjakovic in Donetsk, Jim Heintz and Lynn Berry in Moscow, and Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.